


Bachelor in Distress

by EndlessEarlGrey



Series: Overwatch Writing Prompts [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Firefighters, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Where Gabriel is the one who needs saving
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 12:23:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10990869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndlessEarlGrey/pseuds/EndlessEarlGrey
Summary: Filling the prompt: Fireman Jack rescuing Gabe from a tree, from a tall building.In other words, here's my sappy story of how two gorgeous men met in a unfortunate situation.





	Bachelor in Distress

“Wakey wakey Morrison, we’re here.” Jack jolted awake when he felt a hard slap him on the arm, dashing fuzzy dreams with a sharp bang. He groaned, pushing his helmet up, which surprisingly acted as a great sleeping mask and blinked sluggishly.

Amari’s smirk flashed before him, taking pleasure in disturbing his peace. Jack yawned, stretching his arms out in the cramped truck, accidentally almost punching the woman in the face as he did so. She ducked back, grin replaced with an annoyed frown.

“Watch it!” She shoved his straightened arm away from her personal bubble, which shot forward, before bouncing back right in front of her face. Jack’s yawn almost turned into a bark of laughter when he peeked at her disgusted expression.

“My bad Amari, gotta stretch these guns out to make sure they work without a hitch. You know how it is,” he grinned cheekily at her. She rolled her eyes before grabbing her coat and helmet from between her legs and jumped out the truck.

“You’re not impressing anyone here Goldilocks.”

Jack snickered, grabbing his coat before following the woman out of the truck.

It was nice not having to be in a rush to get to the scene, having the situation already explained to the team. A dare gone wrong and a guy was stuck outside on the balcony on the 5th floor. Since it was the holidays, the office building was closed. Not really an emergency, so the team didn’t turn on the sirens. That meant LA traffic, in the afternoon, plus Jack who had a middle of the night shift, all adds to the perfect situation for a nice nap. He rolled his shoulders, tilting his head up to bask in the sun rays. At least it was a nice day to be stuck outside.

Ana had already joined Reinhardt at the bottom of the balcony, chatting away. He smiled to himself as he walked closer, observing the pair. To the public, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, just professionals at work. But to him who’s spend hours with them, he could see the familiarity between them. The lean against each other, trusting the other to keep the equilibrium. The gentle pats to the forearm Ana gives, the soft smile Reinhardt has as he watches her speak. Perfect couple… Perfect moment to ruin. He snuck behind them while both were looking up at the balcony. With practised stealth, he pinched Reinhardt’s right butt cheek, before quickly stepping to his left, looking up at the balcony as well. The large man jumped with a yelp, head snapping to the right at Ana with a growing flush on his face.

“ _Liebling_ , please. Not in public.” Reinhardt said softly, but his deep voice was loud enough to carry to Jack.

“What’s that heart? Not what in public?… Why are you blushing?” Amari answered, shifting her gaze from the balcony to his face. Jack let a snicker out by accident, coughing to cover it up. They both turned to face him, Wilhelm’s blush turning darker, while Amari’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. Jack fixed his eyes on the lone figure on the balcony, willing his mouth to stop twitching with laughter.

“Jack, what did I say about keeping your teasing away from Reinhardt, he’s too pure for your dumbass humor.”

“I don’t mind _schatz_ , it was a funny joke.” Reinhardt slapped his hand onto Jack’s shoulder, squeezing a little harder than needed. “Very funny Jack, please, continue to jest!”

Jack let out a pained hiss, trying to pull away from the larger man’s grip. “Ah ah ah! Okay, you can stop now.” The man stopped squeezing and gave him two firm pats to the abused shoulder.

“So this seems like this is an easy rescue. We can park the truck here and use the ladder to reach the balcony, I briefly spoke to the guy stuck up there, and he sounded calm enough.” Jack hummed in agreement, while rubbing his aching shoulder.

“Thanks for volunteering Jack.” Reinhardt finished with a grin, dismissing him as he turned to the patch of grass beside the sidewalk.

“Hey! I didn’t say anything!”

“We’ll just maintain the calm down here.- Oh thank you hun.” The large man spread his jacket on the grass, letting Ana sit first before joining her. He laid back, throwing his hands behind his head and let out a satisfied groan.

“There’s nobody here on the ground, there’s no calm to maintain!”

“Hollar at us if something goes wrong!” Ana snickered, laying down and mimicking Reinhard’s actions.

“But– I had the late shift!” Jack looked at the pair and received two fake snoring sounds. “Fucking pricks, the both of you. No wonder you’re together.” He sulked off to the truck, tapping on the driver’s window for Torbjorn to look up. With a quick explanation, they got the truck parked, stabilized to the ground and the ladder lifted to reach the edge of the balcony. Jack grumbled as he climbed the ladder, glaring down at the pair, who were smiling wide enough that their gums were showing and giving him petty waves.

When he finally jumped over the balcony railing, he spotted the guy huddled by the door, holding onto the door handle. Jack smiled, hoping it was genuine enough despite annoyance and tiredness he was experiencing.

“Hey man, you doing okay? I’m Jack with the LAFD. Seems like you got yourself into a situation huh?” Jack moved closer to the man, who hadn’t moved an inch. From where he was standing, Jack could see the whites of his knuckles as he had a death grip on the handle. He examined the man, seeing no obvious injuries. But he did take in the shaking legs, the sweat stained t-shirt and the river of sweat dripping down from his head.

“Hey hey, it’s alright. What’s your name?” Jack stopped a few feet from the man, not wanting to spook him. It took a few beats before the man cleared his throat.

“Gabriel… Gabe.” The man barely opened his eyes and looked at Jack from the corner of his eyes. Jack grinned encouragingly, taking a couple steps closer.

“Alright Gabe, are you injured anywhere? Feeling sick?”

Gabe shook his head before resting it on the door, closing his eyes again. “Fucking heights.”

“Ah I see. So this is kind of your worst nightmare huh.” Jack said, getting a small huff of a laugh out of the shaking man.

“I would say it’s up there.”

“Well lucky for you, I’m great with heights. Doesn’t even bother me at all.” Jack got closer to him, now within arm’s reach.

“That’s great for you, brag about it some more.” Gabe shot back, frustration in his tone. Jack chuckled, definitely not forcing a smile now. He placed his hand lightly on Gabe’s shoulder, keeping still even as Gabe flinched at the contact. “I wasn’t necessarily bragging, just letting you know I’m in a calm state of mind, and the best person to help you get down from here.”

Gabriel opened his eyes wide at the contact, finally looking at Jack for the first time. His gaze bounced from Jack’s eyes, down to his smile, then dragged slowly back to his eyes again. “ _Dios mio ayúdame_ ,” he mumbled.

“What’s that?” Jack barely heard his words, noticing for the first time that Gabriel, despite the frightened complexion, was fucking attractive. Strong jawline under the well maintained beard, cheekbones that could cut marble, whiskey coloured eyes.

“I said, how are we getting down?”

“Oh right, well we’re going to walk over to my trusty ladder there and clim-”

“Fuck no.”

“Uhh..” Jack was taken aback by the curt rejection. “You see, that was my ride up so it’ll have to be the ride down.”

“Just break down this door and I’ll take the stairs down. You firemen have axes and stuff right?” Gabe looked down at Jack’s tool belt, nodding towards the small hatchet.

“Yeah… But that’s not the point. We can’t just break things if there’s another way. This way is faster, less complicated, no lawsuits on breaking company property, all that jazz. You see where I’m coming from?”

“I do, but I don’t give a shit. You have to either break this door down or carry me down the ladder, cause my legs are barely standing on their own. Understand now _pendajo_?”

Jack took a step back, sighing in exasperation. He wasn’t lying, Gabriel’s legs haven’t stopped shaking since he first spoke to him. Holding eye contact with the furious glare, Jack pursed his lips while weighing the options. After a moment, he shrugged, more for himself than Gabe and turned around, squatting low.

“You’re fucking joking.”

“Nope, hop on. You said I’ll have to carry you down so I will.” Jack looked behind his shoulder, making ‘come here’ gestures with his hands behind him. Gabriel shook his head. “Oh come on man. It’s been a long day for both of us and this is actually a lot easier than you’re imagining. I’ll have no problem carrying you down, done it a million times.” Jack decided not to mention he’s only done it once. Gabriel furrowed his brows, glaring holes into Jack’s back.

“Or you know, I can just leave you here and you can spend the whole weekend stuck on this balcony until the office opens again,” Jack said, starting to straighten up.

That seemed to get a reaction out of Gabriel, his hand shot out as if to grab onto Jack.  “No! Don’t–… Fucking, shitty, motherfucking, hell,” he groaned, rubbing his face with his hand. Jack waited as Gabriel took deep breathes, mumbling Spanish to himself. Gabriel suddenly pointed at Jack, pinning him down with his whiskey eyes. 

“If I say to stop, you better fucking stop. I’m not joking about this at all. You hear me blondie?”

Jack nodded, deciding to write the edgy attitude off because of fear and resumed his squat position. “Swear on my Mama’s grave I’ll stop.”

It was only when Gabriel didn’t see any sign of deception on Jack’s face, that he slowly loosened his death grip on the handle. His movements were slow, inching forward slowly with shaking legs and trembling hands. The moment both hands gripped Jack’s shoulders, it was as if everything moved in normal speed again. Gabriel practically jumped onto Jack, wrapping his arms around his neck, clamping his thick thighs around Jack’s waist. Jack let out a quiet ‘oomph’, adjusting to the sudden weight as he gripped onto the back of his Gabriel’s thighs.

“Hey, can you loosen your arms a bit? I wouldn’t be much of a lifesaver if I pass out from lack of oxygen,” Jack said croaked out jokingly. Gabriel’s grip loosened just a little, letting some room for Jack to turn his head. Jack tightened his grip and tried to look at Gabriel’s face as best he could.

“Ready?”

Jack felt the sharp puffs of breath against his neck, raising goosebumps and shivers down his spin. He felt the nod more than saw it. Jack walked slowly, small steps at a time, keeping an ear out for any command to stop. All was well, no hesitation.  “Alright we’re at the railing, so I’m going to start climbing now alright?” Gabriel’s breathing picked up a notch, but he didn’t say anything, so Jack continued. As he raised his leg, shifting the man’s weight to the right, Gabriel immediately tightened his grip to the point where it was causing Jack some pain.

“STOP! STOP!” Jack felt Gabriel’s warm face pressed into the crook of his neck, his mustache scratching his skin. He could feel Gabriel’s whole body shaking violently.

“Hey, no problem. Hey, hey, shhh.” Jack lowered his leg back firmly on the ground, turning his head so his face pressed against Gabriel’s head. “We’re all good, nothing is wrong yeah? I’ve got you, I’ve got you…” He couldn’t help but continue to repeat the last few words into his hair, like mantra as if he said it enough, Gabriel would hear it through his fear stricken state. Eventually the shaking died down to trembles, and Jack could feel the the tension seep out a little from his limbs as his grip loosened again.

“Sorry…” Jack heard the whisper pressed against his neck, hoarse and thick sounding. Jack couldn’t stop the surge of protectiveness wash over him at his broken sound.

“Nothing to be sorry about, it’s really not your fault. People get scared, it’s human to be scared. We’re close though Gabe, just a few more minutes and I’ll get you down on the ground. I promise nothing will go wrong okay? We can wait here until you’re ready to keep going, no rush.” Although his arms started to ache a bit, carrying this man who felt more like muscle than anything, was not the easiest task. But he held still, using his arms to heft Gabriel up more comfortably onto his back. A few quivering breaths later, Jack felt the nod.

Jack let out a breath of his own he didn’t realize he was holding either. Biting his lip, he lifted his leg over the railing and firmly placed it on one of the steps on the ladder. The arms tightened again, but there wasn’t anything spoken besides the panicked pants behind him.

“You know heights isn’t such a bad phobia. I bet I got you beat. I really can’t stand horses,” Jack began to speak as he shifted them both onto the ladder slowly. He guessed having Gabriel holding onto him so tightly wasn’t such a bad thing; one being that there’s less of a chance for him to fall and Jack could use his hands freely. Two… Well this wasn’t the right situation.

“How’d you even find out you were scared of horses?” Gabriel muffled out.

Jack barked out a laugh, feeling irrationally happy that Gabriel was able to respond to him. “Well I wasn’t born in LA, I’m from Indiana.” Jack was finally making the gradual descent down the ladder. “Born and raised on a farm in the countryside, Pop’s side of the family were all farmers.”

Gabriel snorted, “Of course you’re a farm boy.”

“Hey! What’s that suppose to mean?” Jack retorted with fake insult, grin on his face. Gabriel only chuckled in response. Jack could see Ana and Reinhardt as he reached the halfway point, standing by the truck, looking up with puzzled looks on their face. Jack shot them a frown, quickly holding his index finger to his lips for silence. Luckily they understood him. Ana retreated into the truck to bring out some supplies, Reinhardt climbed up the truck, waiting at the base of the ladder, ready to help.

“Well anyways, there was this huge horse, Billy or Buddy, can’t remember. But that son of a bitch, threw tantrums all the time. One day, I was feeding him his oats cause my Pop was busy– that nasty bastard bit my hand hard, reared up on his back legs and neighed like hellhounds were nipping at his ass. I was still a kid, 6 or 7 and I had to get stitches. My Mama almost fainted with fright when I ran back into the house with a chunk of my hand bitten off.” Jack looked down, only a few more steps to go.

Gabriel hissed with sympathy, “Really? A chunk?”

“Okay maybe not a chunk, but a pretty nasty bite. I was crying my eyes out, all the way to the doctor’s office and back. You see why I can’t stand horses now? They’re just…. Freakishly big and strong. Their eyes are twice the size of ours and they have huge human-like teeth too. Freak of natures!” Jack exclaimed and Gabriel let out a loud laugh, rumbling deep and pleasant. Reinhardt held out his forearm, letting Jack use it as a railing as he stepped off the ladder. Jack turned his head to the side back to Gabriel’s head and shrugged his shoulder a few times to get his attention. “Hey guess what Gabe, we’re on the truck now.”  

Gabriel’s head shot up from his warm hiding place, eyes wildly looking around. He saw Reinhardt next to them, the larger man smiling happily. “Nice to not have to shout up at you to speak to you!” He boomed, patting Gabriel on the back a few times. Gabriel’s mouth was still open in shock, not really grasping that he was actually safe now.

“You want to come down now?” Jack asked, still holding onto his thighs, but he could feel the burn of exertion blazing through his arms. That snapped Gabriel out of his daze and he looked back at Jack, heat flushing into his cheeks. “Yeah please, I should be fine now.”

Jack squatted, letting Gabriel get his footing and releasing his neck before letting go. Gabriel stood swaying a little, legs trying to find themselves again. Jack reached out, holding his arm to steady him. Reinhardt hopped off the truck, holding a hand up for Gabriel to hold as he got off the truck, to finally be on the ground. Ana immediately swooped in, guiding Gabriel to a ledge on the truck to sit and gave him a water bottle and the blanket. She asked him the basic medical check up questions, nodding at his responses while filling out a form. Jack quickly recapped the situation to Reinhardt, stretching his arms to get the blood flowing again.  He walked over to Gabriel when he was finished, who had his elbows on his knees, head hanging low.

“Everything doing okay?” Jack grinned when Gabriel looked up at him. Gabriel nodded. “Yeah, I was kind of of a mess up there…”

“Nah man, it’s all good.”

“Seriously, I’m not usually like this, just… Those instances.” He looked sheepishly down, rubbing the back of his neck. “What I’m trying to say is thank you, you know… For saving me and not making smartass remarks about my state.” Gabriel peeked up from underneath his eyelashes, taking in Jack’s concerned expression–and finally smiled. A smile of relief, of gratitude and if it wasn’t the most beautiful thing Jack has seen in all of his life, he would have been lying to himself.

“So uhh,” Jack trailed off, momentarily caught off guard. He ducked his head, scratching the back of his head. “What’s your side of the story? I mean, you must have a good one given you ended up in this situation.”

Gabriel groaned, hiding his face with his hands. “It’s a fucking long story.”

Jack almost regretted asking, given it made Gabriel’s smile disappear. But staring at the theatrical show of woe before him, he chortled amused. His mouth opened before his brain caught up. “How about you tell it to me over coffee?” What the hell right? Gabriel was a stranger and if he said no, he wouldn’t see him again. No harm asking if he could gain so much as a reward. Gabriel lowered his hands and stared at him with a raised brows. For a few seconds, that panicky feeling of rejection started filling Jack’s chest. Maybe he could play it off as a joke?

“Smooth,” Gabriel said. Jack went slack jawed, but judging by the smirk on Gabriel’s face, it was a good comment.

“You didn’t say no though right?”

Gabriel chuckled, holding out his hand in front of him. “Give me your phone.”

Jack gladly handed it over, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he watched him input his contact information.

“Let me pick the place.There’s this little cafe I know of, roasts their own beans, gets them for an ethical source in Ethiopia, been there to see it for themselves.” Gabriel kept going on about how great the coffee was, animated hand gestures completing the story. Jack just nodded along, beaming at him, over the moon that he had another chance to spend more time with this man.

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be start of a series of my filled writing prompts from Tumblr. I would love any prompts if you want to ask me on Tumblr [ Endlessearlgrey](http://endlessearlgrey.tumblr.com), or even in the comments of any of my stories. I'll be happy to tackle them :)
> 
> Thanks a lot for reading! Kudos and comments fuel my feeble ego.
> 
> *Edit* So I may be planning a continuation of this.... :)


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